William geeke



I (NoModeL) W. GERKE.

TAIL PIECE FORSTRINGED INSTRUMENTS.

No. 377,068. Patented Jan. 31, 1888* wUm uzdoeo N. PETERS. Pimlo-Lhhorapinr. wmxmm. 0.0.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM GERKE, OF PROVIDENCE, RI-IOD-E ISLAND.

TAIL-PIECE FOR STRINGED INSTRUMENTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 377,068, dated January31, 1888.

Application filed October 4, 1887. Serial No. 251,468. (No model.)

T aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM GERKE, a subject of the Emperor of Germany,residing at Providence, in the county of Providence and State of RhodeIsland, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Tail-Pieces forString- Instruments', of which the followingis a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in tail-pieces forbanjos, violins,guitars, and other string-instruments, having for its object theprovision of a device for the purpose named which maybe easily attachedto and detached fromthe instrument.

A further object is to provide a tail-piece to which the strings of theinstrument may be more easily attached than to tail-pieces now ingeneral use.

A further object is to provide means whereby the strings-will not beliable to be cut by theslots in which they are engaged, and whereby theknots on the ends of the strings will be hidden from view.

The invention consists in a peculiar construction and combination ofdevices, herein-, after more fully described, and clearly illustrated inthe accompanying drawings, in which 1 similar lettersindicatecorresponding parts in of myimproved tail-pieces is attached.

all thefigures.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a portion of abanjo to which one Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view of the tail-piecedetached from the instrument. Fig. 3 is adetail sectional view on theline 00 as of Fig. 2.

Referring by letter to the drawings, A designates a rod,which is adaptedto be passed through the lower end of the head of the in strurnent, andit is threaded on the inner end to receive: the tap or thumb-nut B,which is adapted to secure the said rod in position.

0 designates the plate of the tail-piece,which is provided at the loweror outer end with a depending post or stud, D, which is pivoted at thelower end to the outer end of the rod A. It will .now be seen that theplate 0 is in effect hinged to the banjo-head, and it may be raised atthe upper or inner end,as clearly shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1.

The general shape of the tail-piece is triangular,comprising thetransverse bar G at the upper or inner end and the side bars, gg, whichare attached at the front ends to the extremities of the transverse barG and are joined together at the rear ends. It is at the junction of thesaid side arms or bars that the depending stud D is secured. It willbeunderstood that this shape for the plate may be varied to suit therequirements of the case, and I wish it to be understood that I do notlimit myself to any particular shape.

The upper side of the transverse bar G is provided with an overhanginglip or flange, H, which is provided with a series of slots, I, adaptedto receive the lower ends of the strings. The upper, lower, and rear.sides of this bar G are rounded, so that the section thereof is asegment of a circle, and the rear ends of the slots I are rounded incontinuation of the rounded surface of the bar, so that if the lip orflange II were removed the remaining bar would be rounded or circularinsection.

The strings K are, as usual, provided on the end with a small knot,which is placed under the overhanging lip on the bar G. The string iscarried through the slot and entirely around the bar,and thence over thebridge,in the usual manner. The knot in the end of the string beingunder the overhanging flange, it is concealed from view. As thestringpasses around the bar. G before it is carried over the bridge ofthe instrument, the lateral motion of the string caused by the operationof playing on it will not cause any motion of the portion of the stringwhich is in the slot, and therefore there will be no wear on it at thatpoint. This is a very important advantage gained by the device hereindescribed. Any lateral motion which the string may derive is lost beforeit can pass around the bar G, and as the said bar is rounded, asdescribed, there is practically no wear on the string thereby.

Another advantage of this tail-piece is that it may be removed instantlyfrom the instrument,and replaced as quickly,simply byloosening the thumb-nut and withdrawing the rod A.

A further advantage is that the upper end of the plate may be raised tosecure the ends of the strings in the slots therein. Further, thestrings always pull directly in line with the plate-that is, when thebridge is lowered the upper end of thetail-piece drops slightly, andwhen the bridge is raised the tail-piece accommodates itself thereto.

It will obviously be understood that I may attach this tail-piece in avariety of ways to the instrument.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. The tailpiece forstringed instruments, having the round transverse bar G, provided on theouter side with an overhanging slotted lip or flange, H, the stringsbeing adapted to be passed through and around the said bar, with theknots on the ends of the strings engaging under the said lip or flange,substantially as described.

2. I11 a tail-piece for stringed instruments, the triangular plate 0,having the transverse bar G, provided with the slotted overhanging lipor flangeH, the post D on the under side of the plate 0 at the apeX ofthe angle, and the rod A,adapted to be passed through a suitable portionof the instrument and pivoted to the post D, as set forth.

3. In a tail-piece for stringed instruments, the triangular plate 0,having the transverse bar G rounded in section and provided with theoverhanging lip or flange H, having a se ries of transverse slots, I,therein to receive the strings, the inner ends of the said slots beingrounded to correspond with the section of the bar Gr, substantially asand for the purpose specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto ai'iixedmy signature in presence of two witnesses.

XVI LLl AM G ERKE.

Witnesses:

JOHN A. Knoneir, WILLIAM H. BAKER,

